Day Seven: During Which I am Publicly Chastised

It was quite the Seinfeld moment. In the middle of an awkward webex, where precisely two people knew what was going on, the instructor was misunderstanding everyone’s questions, and one person was yelling at her husband complaining about the feedback while playing a game with the volume turned way up, and her microphone on – in the middle of all of that, my group was trying desperately to comply with the instructor’s wishes. She wanted a volunteer and there was silence. We volunteered. She asked us what our problem statement was and we told her. And it was obviously (to her) the stupidest, wrongest statement she’d ever heard. Between the two of us, my group leader and I finally figured out where she was headed and gave her what she wanted. She moved on to the next group. They gave a statement much like our first one. And it was immediately accepted as perfect. It did not get better from there.

She asked us about the technical actors, the information systems involved in our process. “You start with the pediatrician’s EHR.” I answered, “Yes. Or their paper record.” And that was it. The feedback got considerably more shrill.

“This is an informatics class! If you want a paper process with a paper record going into a paper chart that is fine and everything is perfect and you don’t need to do this project.”

I took a deep breath. I work with lots of angry people, this is not new for me. “Yes, that makes sense, but not every office has an EHR. We thought we needed to account for…”

“I WILL NOT LET YOU DERAIL THIS DISCUSSION!”

Another deep breath. (I seem to be taking a lot of those lately.) “Absolutely. We can do that. We will only consider pediatricians who have electronic systems. That is perfectly fine.”

She went on with the webex, disgruntled with me, with our group, but not as loud. I was embarrassed and frustrated. And oh so very glad this class is online. I worried I’d upset my group or hurt our chances for a good grade.

Then I checked my email. Our group leader sent – “NO PAPER FOR YOU!” And an encouraging note.

We survived the hour, got to know each other a little better and I think these projects are going to be just fine. We just have to do exactly what she asks. And not involve the real world in our project. And we certainly won’t include anything about or on paper.